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WITH THE NORTH AND SOUTH IRISH AT THE FRONT [Main Title]

Other titles:OFFICIAL PICTURES OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE - FOURTH SERIES [Series Title]

Summary: Compilation showing Irish Guards, 16th (Irish) Division and 36th (Ulster) Division on the Western Front between late 1915 and the middle of 1917, and a Canadian battalion touring Ireland, 1917.

Description: (Reel 1) Connaught Rangers eating in billets near Hulluch, March 1916. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers near Messines, June 1917. Royal Munster Fusiliers march to Mass near Hulluch, March 1916. 2nd Battalion, the Irish Guards, near Aubers Ridge, December 1915. Troops of 16th Division at Messines. A marchpast of 7th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles in early 1915 showing Major William Redmond leading his company. More of the Irish Guards clearing water from their trenches near Aubers Ridge. (Reel 2) Connaught Rangers (?) probably in a training area, throwing smoke grenades and charging forward. Damage done to a "well constructed German dugout". A British 60-pounder battery being shelled. German soldiers helping to carry trophies and wounded of 16th Division, Somme area, late 1916. 36th (Ulster) Division staff, including Major-General Nugent, and some of its troops. Graves just behind the Irish Guards line. A church parade in memory of the dead. Major Redmond's grave in the Hospice at Locre. Irish and Australian walking wounded, posed for the camera, just arrived at Dover (?). II. A tour round Ireland in June 1917 of Canadian 55th Battalion, (Duchess of Connaught's Own Irish Canadian Rangers), under Colonel O'Donoughie. They go through Cork, Belfast, Blarney Castle and Limerick, ending with a sermon preached for them by Cardinal Logue in Armagh Cathedral where the battalion colours were laid up for the war's duration.

Notes: Production: in its original form this was a 1-reel film WITH THE IRISH AT THE FRONT, released on 1 May 1916 by the War Office as part of its fourth series of official films, and dealing only with 16th Division. This version has been re-edited to include material of 36th Division and events of 1917.
Summary: see also IWM 116 THE BATTLE OF THE ANCRE AND THE ADVANCE OF THE TANKS, IWM 197 THE CAPTURE OF MESSINES and IWM 208 LIVELINESS ON THE BRITISH FRONT.
Remarks: British propaganda towards Ireland during the war was understated and covert, at least in films. This episode makes no effort to enlist sympathy for the British cause or the Irish soldiers. It merely provides evidence for the fact that the British Army on the Western Front contained a number of organised formations made up exclusively of Irishmen.